My Summers with Bob Barker

With the weather getting warmer, I can’t help but to remember the good ole days of summer filled with baby sitting, swimming, and Bob Barker. Each week day, I would head over to watch the boys. At first, I got there early so we could have breakfast and plan an eventful day. But it always seemed like the boys stayed in their pajamas well after I got there, laying on the couches and eating cereal. So I decided I was going to sleep in a little bit and get the boys closer to 10. Well, they still weren’t motivated by 10, so I turned on the TV, looking for a weather report, hoping to entice them with swimming. But instead of the Weather Channel, the TV was already on CBS. The boys loudly objected when I tried to switch stations – they wanted to watch The Price is Right.

“Why?” I’d ask, “So you can check out the girls showing off cars and dishwashers?”

“No, because they might have Plinko!”

Plinko. We waited half the summer for Plinko. And while waiting for Plinko, we decided it would be fun to pretend we were in the audience and shout prices at everyone. Sue Bee Honey was on practically every day. And it was eighty-nine cents. And no one ever got it right. It became our battle cry, “Eighty-nine cents, eighty-nine cents!”

And boy did we love watching that wheel spin. We’d crack up every time someone’s second spin netted them with $1.05. We’d jump up and down and holler when someone got one dollar on the first spin. And then the Showcase Showdown, oh how fun that was! We always made guesses at the prices, and we were usually way off. Too bad they didn’t have Sue Bee Honey in the showdowns.

By the time someone was driving off in their new RV or checking out their new living rooms, the boys were ready to enjoy summer. But then I decided they needed to learn about the world. Right after The Price is Right, I’d make them sit and watch the news. At first I told them we needed to see if it was going to rain that day, but then I gave up on that idea and told them they had to have some clue as to what really happened out there. We’d see what was going on, wait for the weather, and then I’d give in and turn the TV off before the sports came on, but that was really only because I didn’t like sports back then. So we’d go to the pool, or the skate park, or to a movie (we saw Rugrats like, five times that summer), and we’d have to be back to their house in time to watch TRL on MTV. That’s when I taught them that there was more to life than N’Sync and Britney and Christina. Kid Rock made the countdown so I had to teach them about rock/rap and explain to them why it was a good idea for me to get my eyebrow pierced. Of course they decided they wanted pierced, too, but I let their mom handle that one. And the one about me having a baby and not being married, but that’s another story.

Not very long ago, I finally started college and got a job on campus at the restaurant. Imagine my surprise when the youngest of the boys I babysat came through my line and showed me his college ID. Now how is it possible that the little boy I used to baby sit and try to talk out of liking pop music was in college now? Worse, how is it that he’s almost done? This doesn’t make me old, does it? Or that my baby is now twelve? Or that I gave up on the body piercings long, long ago? Or that the last time I heard Pantera I decided I was over them? No, no… They may all be getting older, but I am still young and hip and cool and…. Oh who am I kidding…? I’m old. I can’t even stand to watch the new Price is Right with stupid Drew Carey. It’s just not the same without Bob. Lord help me, I sound like an adult!

And by the way, spay or neuter your pets, or Bob and I will come after you!